Market reports

Market reports drive business. The knowledge of markets on a real-time basis conferred a competitive advantage a few years back. Now thanks to television, the Internet and cell phones, everyone can track markets on a real-time basis. Though access to real-time market information no longer guarantees a competitive edge, market reports continue to play a decisive role in business, particularly the securities business.

Market reports contain data relating to prices and volumes in addition to important news. Some market reports also provide the context by providing historical charts. Market reports can be broadly divided into financial reports and commodities reports.

Financial market reports

Financial reports cover a wide spectrum of securities from equities to bonds, government securities to derivatives and treasuries to currencies.

Consider equities. The equity trading is concentrated in a few stock exchanges in the developed world such as the New York Stock Exchange and the London Stock Exchange. The global equity market reports tend to focus on leading exchanges in the developed markets while country-specific market reports tend to focus on respective stock exchanges. The market reports on currencies, meanwhile, concentrate on a few currencies. Though a large number of agencies compile information on currency markets, financial information networks such as Reuters and Bloomberg have become reliable sources of information on currency markets.

Commodity market reports

The commodity reports, meanwhile, cover commodities such as metals, fuels, certain chemicals and agro-products. Unlike financial markets, commodities markets are geographically broad-based. Much of the commodity trading in developed markets is routed through exchanges. The New York Mercantile Exchange is a large commodity futures exchange focused on energy and precious metals while the London Metal Exchange is a leader in the trading of non-ferrous base metals. The trading of agricultural commodities is also big business. The Chicago Board of Trade, for instance, concentrates on futures trading in agricultural commodities and select financial instruments.

The commodity exchanges are leading sources of market information. In developing regions, however, a majority of commodity trading takes place in unorganized markets. The market reports in those regions are provided by print and television media. The introduction of mobile telephony has greatly facilitated exchange of market information in unorganized markets.

The providers of market reports include:

• print media,
• television channels,
• websites,
• wire services,
• financial information networks such as Bloomberg
• cellular operators.

The trading platforms such as the London Stock Exchange and the London Metal Exchange are leading sources of market information followed by financial information networks such as Reuters and Bloomberg. The stock brokers and investment banks also come out with market reports. Television channels such as CNBC and several web sites are focused on providing market reports to sophisticated investors and traders on a real-time basis. Most cellular operators have also begun to provide stock quotes on a real-time basis. The print publications and their online siblings have a stranglehold on providing market reports to the public.

The differentiation of market reports is on the basis of speed, presentation and value-addition. The speed is the key differentiating factor in the market reports. Most providers focus on getting information across to their clients as quickly as possible in print or digital format. The presentation is assuming importance with the mushrooming of television channels dedicated to business. The television channels tend to spice up their market reports with live interviews and visuals.

The serious players are, however, focusing on value addition. Most of them are now providing analytical tools to their customers to help them make sense of raw data. Some like Bloomberg are focusing on delivering information through mobile devices such as BlackBerry. The competition to provide better market reports faster is indeed increasing. The innovations are happening not only in content, but the way content is delivered. The Internet has helped millions access market information on a real-time basis in a cost-effective way. Probably, mobile devices such as BlackBerry will take the business of disseminating market information to a higher plane.